bike for hills and damaged knees

[RST]

Hi
I need to get the difficult balance right between exercising my leg muscles (primarily vastus medialis) and not causing more difficulties for my damaged knee joints. Cycling on the flat is good, but I live in a mountainous area and my house is on the side of an escarpment, so I cannot avoid steep hills if I cycle out of my house. I was thinking of getting an ebike rather than putting my mountain bike in a car everyday for just a brief ride.
It would have to get me up steep inclines without me peddling too heavily ( I want exercise so I do not want a no –peddling moped approach).
Lighter is better than heavier.
I don’t give a damn if its illegal.
I don’t need to go far.
I don’t need to go fast.
And while I want value for money, cost is not critical (nothing is more expensive than buying something that isn’t quite up to the job).

Ive looked at the road bikes online but what little I can get from reviews suggests these road bikes are focussed on speed and high-geared appropriately. I wondered if a mountain ebike from Haibike or another manufacturer would be better- more likely to have gearing sympathetic to hills and my crappy knees?
If it’s a consideration I,m 6ft & 13 stone.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The bikes that you can buy today with good climbing ability are:

• Any 36v crank-drive bike
• The BH Emotion Neo series (has to be Neo)
• The Tonaros

You're lucky being only 13 stone because you get a higher power to weight ratio than us lardies, which means that other bikes might be OK, but it depends on how steep the hills are. Generally, the hub motors only go down to about 6mph because of the way they work, so, if you want to go slower, it has to be a crank drive or a small-wheeled bike with slow-speed motor (DIY). The Tonaros are a little on the heavy side compared with some of the others. The problem with the crank-drives is finding them in stock, but 50Cycles have got some on discount at the moment, and they're giving additional discount to forum members if you ask.

 

[Tim]

Pro Connect BS10

Agattu C11 Premium Impulse

These are both 36V crank powered bikes - one with 350W motor, the other with excellent 250W motor and large capacity 15Ah longlife battery.

We can probably beat those web prices if asked...

 

[flecc]

Since the legality doesn't matter, 50cycles also have some 350 watt crank drive models, able to climb anything and with a good turn of speed too. This model for one example.

N.B. Crossed with Tim's post.

 

[103Alex1]

If range isn't an issue, I'd seriously consider trying the Pro Connect BS10 350W model .. guess you can always get it registered if you want to, and if you just make sure no-one rides it without a valid driving licence the legality side of things shouldn't cause any problems.

The C11 is a very good hill climber - lower gears and dropping the speed considerably are far easier of course but there's scope with steep hills to give you a blooming good workout if you want it. If the battery capacity / range on the BS10 had been much higher, I would likely have bought it over the C11, essentially to open up an easier time of it over long distances in hilly areas.

On the legality thing I believe there was a case in London relatively recently of a guy getting knocked down and the driver's insurance company refusing to pay out damages to him on account of his bike exceeding 250W being classed as illegal .. don't know the specifics or how it's panning out as far any action being taken against the cyclist but it's worth thinking about anyway before making an informed choice. Someone on here must know more about it. I wasn't particularly bothered previously, but a lorry knocked down a cyclist on a roundabout and drove over him just before I arrived there a few days ago and seeing the carnage really did make me think twice about having all the right boxes ticked on my own bike !

 

[yselmike]

just getting some miles in your legs may work wonders for your knees/legs take it easy at first,a crank driven bike with low gears will most likely pull you up most hills max power lowest gears you will be suprised.not that I know about hills living in the Netherlands.
If money is not a problem a Swiss Flyer may fit the bill a few hills there.

 

[SportRider]

If you want to climb hills and not worry about what gear you're in (or not worry about pedalling at all), have a word with Frank at Xipi about one of his 1500W setups with a 48V 15 or 20ah battery (Xipi Electric Bikes). You can have it in two modes - 250W road legal, or full power, 'off road'. As a responsible adult the choice is yours to make.

I've been running a Stealth for the last four months or so and I'm thoroughly delighted with it.

If you do decide to buy such a machine, do be warned that you may be accused of being "selfish and unscrupulous with no morals, no ethics, no taste, and lacking decency".

 

[103Alex1]

If you do decide to buy such a machine, do be warned that you may be accused of being "selfish and unscrupulous with no morals, no ethics, no taste, and lacking decency".

Sounds about par for the course as it is ... I'm tempted myself